This copy is for your personal non-commercial use only. To order presentation-ready copies of Toronto Star content for distribution to colleagues, clients or customers, or inquire about permissions/licensing, please go to: www.TorontoStarReprints.com

Sudbury gets symphonic

Live music doesn't recognize age limits. You get the same, ear-to-ear smile on a 6-year-old hearing the Simpsons theme being played as from a 60-year-old recognizing something from a Bugs Bunny cartoon in Gioacchino Rossini's William Tell Overture .

By John TeraudsCLASSICAL MUSIC CRITIC

Sat., Sept. 19, 2009

SUDBURY–Live music doesn't recognize age limits. You get the same, ear-to-ear smile on a 6-year-old hearing the Simpsons theme being played as from a 60-year-old recognizing something from a Bugs Bunny cartoon in Gioacchino Rossini's William Tell Overture.

There was a harvest of these happy grins as the Toronto Symphony Orchestra kicked off the first full day of its fifth annual Northern Ontario residency on Tuesday. In a tight, 13-hour day that would make a campaigning politician swoon, the orchestra rehearsed, dispersed into Greater Sudbury to give talks and miniconcerts at 20 schools and colleges, and returned to give a full, two-hour concert to about 1,100 patrons at Glad Tidings Tabernacle, home to the seven-concert Sudbury Symphony Orchestra season.

By lunchtime on Wednesday, about 4,000 adults and children had heard top-rank classical musicians preach the gospel of fine music. Then it was off to Sault-Ste. Marie for more of the same.

Throughout the day on Tuesday, it was clear that the 50-odd touring members of the TSO were as happy to be there as their audiences.

This year, for the first time, music director Peter Oundjian was along for the ride. His last such outing was in 1986, when he toured with the National Arts Centre Orchestra – as violin soloist.

Article Continued Below

This was the first time the orchestra had played together since the start of a 10-week summer break at the end of June. By the time the long bus ride up the Trans-Canada Highway was over, they had caught up on each other's adventures, exchanged money over games of poker and were ready to make music.

Trumpeter James Gardiner, a Sault-Ste. Marie native, got a star turn Thursday night. It's not often that a regular member of an orchestra section gets to play solo in a concerto, so he was looking forward to the experience. "I was inspired to start playing the trumpet by one of the rare orchestra visits to the Sault," he explained. He hopes he and his fellow musicians will be able to inspire a new generation to either take up an instrument, or just fall in love with great music.

There are a couple of dozen orchestra members who, like Gardiner, take any opportunity they can to visit places in Ontario that are worlds away from Roy Thomson Hall. About 10,000 adults and children will have been exposed to TSO musicians over the past five days. Using smaller groups of two or three musicians at a time, this kind of outreach goes on year-round.

The driving force behind the 14-hour days is Roberta Smith, who coordinates the orchestra's educational initiatives, which range from school concert visits to Roy Thomson Hall to booking a brass trio into the Atikokan high-school gym.

On Wednesday afternoon at Lively District Secondary School, a few minutes west of Sudbury, about 300 young people had a chance to see principal trumpet Andrew McCandless, horn player Gabriel Radfordand trombonist Megan Hodge at one of two 40-minute concerts that were musical versions of show-and-tell. The brass trio ended each session with the Simpsons theme, bringing hoots of approval from the young fans.

Standing in the background, beaming, was Lively music teacher Corinne Yantha. When she arrived last year, the music program had been dead for several years. Now, she says, 50 of the 400 high schoolers participate in a concert/jazz band, rock band or musical theatre production.

The Toronto Star and thestar.com, each property of Toronto Star Newspapers Limited, One Yonge Street, 4th Floor, Toronto, ON, M5E 1E6. You can unsubscribe at any time. Please contact us or see our privacy policy for more information.

More from the Toronto Star & Partners

LOADING

Copyright owned or licensed by Toronto Star Newspapers Limited. All rights reserved. Republication or distribution of this content is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Toronto Star Newspapers Limited and/or its licensors. To order copies of Toronto Star articles, please go to: www.TorontoStarReprints.com